New Browns line coach Bill Callahan is sky high on rookie left tackle Jedrick Wills. (clevelandbrowns.com)
You must have an active subscription to read this story.
Click Here to subscribe Now!
Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
Takeaways from Zoom conference with Browns offensive line coach Bill Callahan …
1.Spend 30 minutes with Bill Callahan and you understand why the Browns didn’t make the trade for Trent Williams, won’t consider Jason Peters a one-year stopgap and aren’t even formulating a Plan B if rookie No. 10 overall draft choice Jedrick Wills doesn’t make the transition from right tackle to left tackle.
2.“He came alive on tape, and you got excited about what he was doing throughout the course of the game,” Callahan said of Wills. “He has these intangibles that show up in tangible ways on film. You watch him finish. You watch the detail, the technique. You watch his consistent effort and his stamina throughout the course of the game from start to finish. I think that was the appeal for me.”
3.Since dialing into Callahan’s virtual offseason classroom sessions last week, Wills has been “a sponge of information,” Callahan said. “He has absorbed all the content that you can give him and he wants more. I am really excited about him. I am eager to at some point get on the field with him.”
4.All of which is why Callahan has no hesitation about the club’s expectation that Wills, who played right tackle his entire football career in high school and at Alabama, will be the left tackle in the Browns’ wide-zone offensive line scheme from Day 1 as a rookie.
“I think whenever you draft a player as high as we drafted Jedrick, I have always felt that you have to plug him in and play him immediately,” Callahan said. “That is why you draft him. No, that does not concern me, scare me or bother me in any respect. I am quite confident that he is capable of being our left tackle. They are going to go through some lumps and they are going to have some times when they are going to get beat, but the best in the game get beat. I think what we are trying to do is establish kind of a mode of consistency with him so that he gets confidence in his techniques and be that consistent player for us.”
5.Callahan is equally excited about right tackle Jack Conklin, who was the big fish of Andrew Berry’s first free agent class as Browns GM. You talk about a system fit, you could not get a more perfect tackle in free agency than Jack,” Callahan said. “He fits the mode for the wide zone game and his pass protection sets, how he short sets and he jumps at the line of scrimmage, which is a tough skill to acquire. Then of course in third down and later downs, you can watch him set vertically and you can see his variance of sets. He has the toolbox and he has the skillset to do quite well. What I really like about Jack is he is a player that is really thirsty for new techniques and new ways of doing things. He is wide open from that aspect.”
6.The only unsettled starting spot on the new and improved Browns’ offensive line is right guard. Callahan hesitated to anoint incumbent Wyatt Teller. “I am still getting familiarized with all the players. We have not really set a depth chart, listed a starter or named the right guard position. That is up for grabs.” Callahan termed the competition “excellent” between Teller, 2019 sixth-round draft pick Drew Forbes, 2019 practice squadders Colby Gossett and Willie Wright. “It is always such a change, and we are just going to keep assessing and evaluating the position as we move forward,” Callahan said. “There are enough candidates in there that I think someone will rise to the occasion and take over that spot.”
7.It sounds as if Callahan had a voice in retaining defrocked right tackle starter Chris Hubbard after a contract reduction. “I really like Chris,” he said. “I remember a couple years ago when I was in Washington, we did in free agency really, really liked him. I thought he had the athleticism to come in and be a real benefit as a swing tackle at the time and he could help our line and eventually be the starter.” Callahan values an experienced starter as a sixth man. “You can never have enough of those guys,” he said. “I went through 72 of them in two years – we had 72 different line combinations in Washington. We were just riddled with injuries. The value of a player like Chris, you just can’t make up for it.”